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Mods UNLOCKED Bootloader, ROOTED and cannot get ADB to restore .AB file [Root only]

S

searcherrr

Newbie
What would prevent me from restoring an adb backup on an unlocked smartphone?

First off, are .ab (adb backup files) and .img (from the like of clockworkmod) the same type of file? Same format?

Ok, I have spent 3 days+ educating myself before I messed with my Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE (SPRINT CDMA) phone. My intention started out only as troubleshooting an issue I have where my sister's (on AT&T) Samsung Galaxy S4 will only send me MMS messages instead of plain ole SMS messages and it is causing duplicate thread issues...... so that is besides the point..... I RESET my phone to factory defaults and manually backed up everything else first as well as used "Super Backup" in the Play store as a double backup measure.

I followed all instructions to the letter on backing up using ADB, except that I could never locate the so-called "fastboot" file that apparently "MOTOROLA" makes vs the one that is included with the Android SDK. Using ADB and FASTBOOT from the Android SDK, I successfully make a backup (while the bootloader was still LOCKED) of my phone and I figured after I reset to factory defaults I could simply use the ADB RESTORE command and it would put my apps, wallpaper, email settings, account settings, shortcuts and placement of them etc.. all back where they were. INSTEAD I get a restore process that only seemed to restore the background live wallpaper and NOTHING ELSE was restored.

SO, then I figured, well this is a good time to try to ROOT the phone and see if I can get CWM to work, because I never have successfully done it before today. Got the phone to work finally after a variety of hybrid-put together instructions and used shabbypenguin's files and instructions that are available for my phone Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE today, though they are dated a lil bit... it worked.

SO now, I go to use ADB RESTORE, thinking now that I have SUPERUSER rights, I can successfully restore the ADB backup and get all my stuff back the way it was prior to the factory reset. NOPE. Same result as before... just restored wallpaper... no apps, no settings, no accounts etc.. just like stock or I should say now the CWM stock img.

So what gives? Why can't I utilize that ADB backup file? Can I extract stuff from it and manually apply it now that I have SUPERUSER rights?

Does the phone need to be BOOTLOADER LOCKED AGAIN in order for the ADB RESTORE to WORK?

Please answer about the difference in .ab and .img files... as I was going to try to have fastboot apply the .ab adb backup, but I don't know if that would work or potentially brick the phone.

Sorry so long. Thanks ahead of time. I hope there is someone with a good answer. I can rebuild the phone manually of course, but would rather not and would rather see the tools just work as they should.
 
When you ran adb backup, what parameters did you give the command? With no parameters it doesn't back much up. You should use at least -apk, -shared and -system.

As for the original problem, your sister's phone is probably set to send texts over 160 characters as MMS instead of multiple SMSs. (An SMS can't be longer than 160 characters.)
 
I believe the documentation states that -system is default, so didnt have that in there, but i do recall having -apk -f

Is it possible that when I took the first backup and phone wasnt unlocked yet, that I just didn't have the right permissions to save and/or restore that a dB backup?
 
This was the command I used for the backup:
adb backup -apk -shared -all -f <filename>

Also, the size of the backup is right...... like it did backup everything, but the restore process just doesn't RESTORE it.

In addition though, I did find that some background settings (like WiFi networks I'd previously used) did come back during the RESTORE and the personal dictionary for SWYPE still had words in it I'd put in there.... but all the desktop layout, icons, etc.. was all gone except for the live wallpaper.

Why would RESTORE just restore select things and not the whole OS with its DATA too?
 
I still have not figured out why the Android SDK "restore" method didn't work, though I speculate that not having the "MOTOROLA version of FASTBOOT" may have had a hand in it. I think if I were to do the whole process again that having that version of FASTBOOT might've led to the Android SDK (.ab file) backups working in Android SDK runtime RESTORE operations.

SO, I have moved on to backing up with clockworkmod recovery instead. I've yet to test that in recovery, but since its so well proven the past 2 - 3 years, I bet it will work fine instead of the SDK method.
 
I had some issues with adb backup as well in the past. So distant, I can't remember which phone(s) I tried it on. I'd agree, if you can use a recovery instead, it seems far more reliable let alone easier.
 
You are trying to restore a bootlocked is to a unbootlocked phone. Negative on the working. And if it can be safe strapped. Boot strapped. I can't see what people get out of garbage cwr. They even dumped the cwm in play as far as work and updates. And if you have a bootlocked phone. Safestrap allows for ROM slots going right around that. I'm on the galaxy s3 Verizon. Running straight talk at side alliance ROM 4.3 kernel of my own design. And other mods I probably should never do. Haha. Anyone wants to lose non Verizon Sim and access all bands. Use these codes in the build property editors.


ril.sales_code=LOL
ro.csc.sales_code=LOL

They have to be added. I have only ran them on my i535v. So do so at your own dumbness. I didn't do it. Lol
 
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